By ROBERT GAVIN Staff writer

Published 2:13 pm, Tuesday, October 19, 2010

ALBANY -- A parolee took part in the botched robbery of a 32-year-man shot to death inside his Pine Hills home last year -- then boasted about it during a drug sale, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday.

Dwayne Wright, 34, known as "Weasel," is charged with second-degree murder and attempted robbery in the Aug. 9, 2009 slaying of Henry Ferrell inside the victim's home at 158 Western Ave., about 2:50 p.m. If convicted, he faces 25 years to life in prison.

Wright is not accused of pulling the trigger, but authorities say he planned to rob Ferrell, a father of two, and the crime turned deadly. Ferrell, shot in the heart and spine, died after a struggle with his attackers, prosecutors said. Wright ran from the scene and later "boasted" about the crime during a marijuana transaction a to customer from Wilton, prosecutors said.

"Nobody would know," Assistant District Attorney Bruce Lennard said of the information about the murder, "unless they were there."

Wright's attorney, Joseph Meany, told jurors there was no evidence linking his client to the crime, saying Wright was "just standing there."

That Wright was present "makes him a witness. Doesn't make him guilty," Meany said.

In opening arguments Tuesday, Lennard laid out the series of events surrounding Ferrell's death as follows:

On Aug. 8, Ferrell and his roommate, a disc jockey, were in their home with a female friend and another man. The DJ had plans to work at a Clinton Avenue birthday party for a 16-year-old that night. In turn, the group helped him move his equipment and they all went to the party.

At some point during the party, the nephew of Ferrell's female friend -- Kymeir Turner, who was 15 at the time -- had a "situation" on Clinton Avenue. It was linked to a battle between "uptown" and "downtown" youths in Albany, a reference to a long-standing feud between gangs in the downtown South End and those in uptown West Hill and Arbor Hill.

Prosecutors said Wright, who knew Turner's aunt, provided Turner with a .45-caliber handgun, which he placed in his waistband. Until that night, Wright and Turner did not know each other.

Prosecutors gave the following account:

By the end of the party, Ferrell left with a friend, met up with two women and went back home to Western Avenue. Ferrell's roommate and friends from earlier in the night arrived later-- as did Wright and Turner.

Initially, the group hung out in different parts of the home, some of them smoking pot and drinking. At one point, Ferrell's roommate gave a female friend $20 to go out and get food. About that same time as the others were getting ready to leave, Wright and Turner decided to rob Ferrell, who had been flashing cash earlier in the night and was providing marijuana. Turner walked down the hallway, went into the victim's room and told him, "You know what this is."

A struggle ensued between the 6-foot, 240-pound Ferrell and the 15-year-old gunman. Turner shot Ferrell in the chest. As the fight continued, Turner shot Ferrell in the spine and ran. Outside, he ran into a woman who had been inside the home. Turner asked for a ride to Second Street.

During the ride he stashed the gun in the car, where the woman's boyfriend later found it and, in turn, stashed it away.

Wright, meanwhile, ran from the scene following the shooting, prosecutors said.

Wright, of Wilkins Avenue, spent time between Albany and Brooklyn before the incident. He was picked up by the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force in August 2009.

Lennard told jurors that when Wright was later interviewed by Albany police he first denied being at the Western Avenue home -- then gave conflicting versions of events.

The Times Union reported in August 2009 that Wright told police he witnessed the shooting of Ferrell, who was known as "Black," left the home and went to a woman's house to have sex.

"I was in the kitchen," Wright said in the statement to police. "I heard a tussle, went out the door of the kitchen by the top of the stairs, looked down and saw 'Black' and the dude I saw shoot him tussling. 'Black' was grabbing the dude around his legs and I saw the dude shoot him on his back. I then ran down the stairs and when I got to the bottom heard another shot."

Police asked Wright why he mentioned something about a "jux" -- the street term for robbery. Wright said, "Yeah, when the little dude ran down and shot him."

On Tuesday, Lennard told jurors Wright was implicated by statements he made that were secretly recorded. He said Wright, at one point, also became aware he was being taped.

After the gun was recovered, it was matched to Turner through DNA evidence.